Obituary of Richard Clow Memhard

Richard C. Memhard, Investment Banker, entrepreneur, and lifelong sailor, died peacefully at home on October 6th.
Born in NYC in 1930, he grew up in Riverside, CT, attending Riverside elementary school, Rye Country Day, Phillips Exeter Academy, and Yale University, where he studied engineering and majored in English, graduating with honors in 1951.
Dick sailed competitively during his youth and taught sailing at Riverside Yacht Club and Larchmont Yacht Club during his college years.  After a brief stint in the CIA, Dick attended Officer Candidate School in the US Navy at Newport, RI.
While on leave from OCS one weekend in November 1951, he met Polly Ann Hunter, a senior at Wellesley College. They were married on April 5, 1952 in Farmington, CT, shortly after Dick was commissioned an Ensign and assigned to destroyer Allen M Sumner DD692 stationed in Norfolk, VA.  He served as Senior Watch and Gunnery Officer as his ship circled the globe, sailing through the Mediterranean to Japan and operating off Korea, then returning via the Pacific and the Panama Canal. 
After his Honorable Discharge from the Navy in 1954, Dick and Polly drove west, settling in San Francisco, where Dick began a career in finance at Crocker Anglo Bank and enrolled in a MBA program at Golden Gate College.  
After the birth of two children, Raymond Scott and Laura, the Memhards returned in 1957 to Riverside, CT where their third child, Jennifer was born.
Transitioning from commercial banking to investment banking in NYC, Dick became a partner of Hornblower & Weeks - Hemphill, Noyes and later worked for G.H.Walker & Co, Inc.  Then, using his experience with mergers and acquisitions, he became an entrepreneur and founded Memhard Investment Bankers, Inc. which he managed from 1973 to 2016.  Two of the companies Dick acquired are SRS Crisafulli, Inc., Glendive, Montana, and Cape Pond Ice & Co., Gloucester, Massachusetts, both managed by family members today.

While working in NYC, Dick owned and raced a series of yachts, starting with a 27’ Quincy Adams, ‘Lady Luck,’ a Swan 42’ and a 47’, ‘Kinship,’ and lastly, a 57’ Able Apogee, ‘Independence.’
Dick’s parents were Allen Raymond Memhard and Judith Memhard Falconer. His older brother, Allen R. Memhard, Jr., his sisters, Priscilla Memhard Bryant and Beatrice Memhard Brittain, and his younger brother, Charles Pomeroy Memhard all predeceased him.
He is survived by his wife and their three children:  Raymond Scott Memhard, of Gloucester, MA, Laura Memhard Fleming, of Ridgefield, CT, and Jennifer Memhard, of Portland, OR. He is also survived by five grandchildren, Aldace Winslow Fleming, Laura Elizabeth Fleming, Ian Richard Oaks Memhard, Larry Oaks Memhard and Marie Memhard Cahoon, and one great grandchild, Eleanor Faye Cahoon.
A Circle of Celebration will be held on Friday, November 3rd at 1:30 at the Riverside Yacht Club. 
In lieu of flowers, please do whatever is meaningful to you and beneficial to the life of all species on this gorgeous planet.